Since its defeat in 1945, Japan has been constrained in its military spending, wary of provoking accusations that it was again developing expansionist ambitions.

From next month, however, the Japanese military will have an annual budget of ¥6.82 trillion (£43.46 billion) – an increase of more than 26 percent over the previous year and evidence that Tokyo knows it can no longer afford to keep the gloves on.

Some want Japan to go further.

“My personal opinion is that Japan needs to possess independent nuclear weapons to deter Chinese aggression,” Fumio Ohta, a retired admiral in the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force and a former head of the Defence Intelligence Headquarters told the Telegraph.

“The lesson from Ukraine is that they gave away their nuclear weapons and they became an easy target for Russia.”

Japan is not quite ready to break that taboo.

Before December, China was “an issue of concern to the international community”. Now, in new government papers, it is described as an “unprecedented strategic challenge” to regional peace and “a threat” to security.

Much of the money will go on advanced new missiles that will give Japan an offensive strike capability again or extend the range of existing missiles designed to counter hostile ships or aircraft, such as the Type 12 Surface-to-Surface missile.

Other battle-tested systems will be purchased, such as 500 Tomahawks from the US that will give Japanese submarines the ability to attack enemy bases from which intelligence indicates an attack on Japan is imminent, while £221.16 million is being spent on the Norwegian Joint Strike Missile, air-launched cruise missile.

Japan is buying 16 additional Lockheed Martin Lightning F-35 fighters, the most advanced in the world, anti-submarine helicopters and will step up joint development with the UK and Italy of a next-generation Tempest fighter.

Despite the spending splurge, Japan is short of air bases with hardened shelters in the islands of Okinawa, which can be expected to bear the brunt of inevitable Chinese attacks on what would be the northern flank of an invasion of Taiwan.

Ammunition stocks are still low. Japan is also worryingly short on logistics capabilities, primarily maritime, with “a logistics tail that is thin and weak”, Mr. Mulloy said.

Some voices within the government remain skeptical about the real threat from China. One analyst with Japan’s National Institute of Defence Studies, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Defence, believes a full invasion of Taiwan would be a step too far for Xi Jinping.

“There are analysts who talk about a five-year window for China, but even if it was able to obtain a favorable military result the economic costs would be too great”, said the official, who declined to be named as he did not have clearance to speak with the media.

Many analysts thought the same about Mr. Putin early last year, however.

Source: Telegraph/Yahoo